Choice

Once again I find myself at a crossroads I found myself almost a year ago. The only difference is that this time around I seemed to have moved down a few steps on one of the paths. The thing that rattles me the most is the fact that the view of the section of the road where it divides into the fork is not entirely lost till now. I still haven’t come to a sharp bend that would ultimately rob me of the sight of the other road, thereby allowing me the pleasure of the focusing on the road ahead, not look at the seemingly parallel road that somehow seems a trifle more easy. The choice that I have to make, for which I have consulted numerous people, websites and books, is quite simple. Whether I should go for Java Platform or should instead focus my energies towards .NET Framework. I know this must be quite appalling for few people, my constant thinking and wondering. To hell with it, take a coin and flip it, they would say. The very fact that I am on the fence for the last one year, stands testament to the difficulty I have faced in making it. Both the companies, Sun and Microsoft, are in no way on the brink of falling in the abyss. On the contrary, both stand tall even as smaller companies become a part of them, somehow akin to the Transformers, just snapping into place. Sun has made sure that Java is now supported on all the operating environments, and at the same time MS is currently making sure of that. The one thing that lies quite heavily on the shoulders of MS is that the Java Platform is older to .NET, and so has higher following amongst the geek population. But, then again stats make it quite clear that MS is leading seller of the software, thereby cementing in the need of the programs that would behave like native windows programs (frequent crashes included!). This easily achieved as MS is making .NET framework and so naturally (hopefully) its workability in the Windows Environment is guaranteed. The recent release of Windows 7 has acted as a stable pillar, without which critics would have completely written off the Redmond company. This was due to release of Windows Vista amidst huge expectations and the subsequent failure of Vista to stand up to them. Coming back to the point, I still have to decide between the two, for it would ultimately decide the map for the rest of my life. Or so I feel, however my course makes me think twice. Would it me fruitful for me to learn only one platform or should I become the jack of all trades and master of none? After all the Manager has to know something about everything, and not everything about something, or why would anyone call them managers, and employ them to sit around all day, making other people work? In the past I have studied C++ for about 2 years in my school days, the language that many say as the foundation stone of the programming world. However, over the past few projects I have somehow managed to get hold of languages that resemble the C language. It could just be my inclination towards the windows specific programming that makes me more and more dependent on the .NET framework. But, as many argue, Java is just an extension to the C family; albeit some more features. That also holds true for the C# doesn’t it? My decision is based not entirely on the reason of the monetary value, rather that I could spend the rest of my life in retrospect, what if? Or maybe, ultimately I should just let my mind adrift, and make the time’s stream take my boat to whichever bank it deems fit.

Court

Today I went back to one Court where I felt I was placed among the nobles, not the king but still a person that inspires men to lay down their lives, men who’ll follow me into battle with their eyes closed, laying their faith in me. It looked different, smelt different, although I am not sure that if it was the place that seemed changed to me or was it some part of me that had been changed during the long absence of mine from the one place I loved, or was it that I had, god forbid forgotten the smells, the sight, the very touch of my favourite place on this Earth? I walked into the Court with my head held high, with my eyes riveted to the front, my steps somewhat faltering because of the absence of my old trusted sword broken in battle not long ago, the battle that had forced me to take a sabbatical from this Court. Striding, I could sense the eyes of people on me, scrutinizing stares that conveyed to me that I was unknown here. New faces, expressionless but with eyes that spoke volumes, I could see gazing around, in vain I tried to find old and familiar faces, ones that I could not spot, ones that would have been killed or gone away. With a small wave I strode forward into the court, taking a seat behind the Court’s nobles. I wanted to observe the young men and women who had replaced the wise old men I had left behind. It had been too long and time had slipped by me so fast. Silence had descended with the very first steps I had taken into this Court, but now it was now broken with whisperings and muttering, obviously to my account. Looking around I could see the contests among the nobles, with swords drawn, they strove to better themselves amongst their peers. I could see the amount of talent that seemed to ooze out of these youngsters, whereas the experienced swordsman in me reasoned that they needed work. After some time, one of the youngsters, after vanquishing everyone in sight, strode towards me and said, “I wish to challenge you, O stranger, who has so unwittingly come to this sacred Court of ours.” “O nobleman, great is your power while wielding your sword. I unfortunately, do not have my sword here with me, having broken it in combat.” “Fear not O stranger, we’ll find you a suitable sword!” So ultimately, armed with a borrowed sword I strode forward into the ring, aware again of the stares I got. With a cry the nobleman charged and I, a son of great fathers, also swung my sword high away my head and brought it down with great speed, only to have the ball fly out of the tennis court, accompanied with a call to arms, “ Bhaiya! Ball le kar aao!”.